steve_cassel Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I just got a 1939 Gibson L-30 acoustic and i was wondering what kind of strings would sound and play the best on it. brand and size. thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 If you want the traditional sound and feel of the era, and be period correct to the age of the guitar, you'll want to try flatwounds with a wound third. D'Addario "Chromes" are very good strings, reasonably priced and readily available. These guitars were designed with heavy strings in mind, so I would recommend you try the .012 set first. Welcome to the forum, and I hope you'll enjoy the old archtop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_cassel Posted August 12, 2011 Author Share Posted August 12, 2011 If you want the traditional sound and feel of the era, and be period correct to the age of the guitar, you'll want to try flatwounds with a wound third. D'Addario "Chromes" are very good strings, reasonably priced and readily available. These guitars were designed with heavy strings in mind, so I would recommend you try the .012 set first. Welcome to the forum, and I hope you'll enjoy the old archtop. i appreciate the info. ill pick up a set tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR56 Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 If you want the traditional sound and feel of the era, and be period correct to the age of the guitar, you'll want to try flatwounds with a wound third. For a 1930's acoustic? Larry, could you elaborate on this, or provide a source regarding the history of flatwounds? I've always been under the impression that flatwounds came along after the popularity of electric guitars began to be significant (more post-WWII era). Flatwounds are always associated more with electric guitars, and are not favored by most acoustic archtop players, as far as I know, because of their softer and more dull acoustic sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfox14 Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 I don't think a 1930s guitar came from the Gibson factory with flat-wound strings. I would go with 12s, but round-wound with a wound 3rd string. They will produce a much brighter clearer sound on an un-amplified guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR56 Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 First law of the internet... don't be too quick to believe everything you read. Anyway, I still haven't found any more definitive info on string history vis a vis flatwounds vs roundwounds (but I tend to want to stand by what I said above). Larry...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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